The Traveling Stanzas project exists to bring poetry to everyday lives. Building on this initiative, the Wick Poetry Center is designing an interactive poetry map that allows people to view Traveling Stanzas designs on utility boxes and kiosk displays. Each installation allows people to see poem illustrations created by local artists and designers, hear the poem read by poets in the community, and receive walking or driving directions to each location. Future Traveling Stanzas will be displayed in communities nationally, as well as internationally.

With major support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Traveling Stanzas is a project of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University. The project began as a collaboration with Visual Communication Design students and alumni. The purpose of Traveling Stanzas is to facilitate a global conversation through the intimate and inclusive voice of poetry.